Each year I produce a surplus of good quality, reliable queen bees to sell in order to help sustain my honey bees, equipment and the apiary, trying where possible to be completely self-sufficient.  These queen bees are selected from my own breeding stock and are all naturally mated in my queen rearing yard.  I only sell queen bees that I produce, so the numbers and availability will depend on the pre-season demand to buy queen bees, the spring/summer weather conditions and how quickly my cell builders and finishing colonies can build up.  I normally consider starting my queen rearing programme at the end of April or by the end of the frosts. You can pre order your new queens below and we will let you know when they are available.

By breeding my queen bees in this way I can guarantee both the quality and health of the queen bees you are getting, their laying pattern, resistance to infection and with my selected drone pool the traits of the young bees produced.  Just like all my nucs and colonies of bees I have for sale, all of my queen bees will have undergone a health check and thorough examination by a bee inspector before being released.

Description of the Queens

Italian Queens

There are many regions within Italy that produce great queen bees. My Italian queen bees originated from the Southern part of Italy (Geo – De Cole), were from F1 stock and were all genetically crossed with Italian drones. These queen bees were found to be disease and parasitic resistant, were great house keepers for both hive and comb cleanliness and showed a reluctance to swarm.

These queen bees were prolific producers of brood and expanded the colony quickly given good conditions.  They produced bees that were exceptional foragers and although the bees gave the appearance of starting to fly (work) later than others, they always managed to generate more nectar and honey than the rest.

The only down side, the queen bees were slow to reduce egg laying even in prolong poor weather conditions or when there was a dearth of pollen or nectar coming in (a flow).  They could also consume all their stores over a hard winter period, so needed to be monitored well. I found leaving them on a brood and a half (brood box + full honey super) with the queen excluder removed was ample given our UK winters at present (reasonably mild and not prolonged).

Buckfast Queens

There are many breeders of Buckfast queen bees throughout the globe.  However, my Buckfast queen bees all originated from Devon, the home of the Buckfast bee. My Buckfast queen bees are of high quality, reliable hard working queens producing a great laying pattern and are of F1 stock. They are prolific layers and will expand the colony quickly, laying to every corner of the frame.

The bees show a reluctance to swarm, display a very pleasant nature when handled, work well even in poor nectar flow and are frugal with the consumption of stores throughout the winter months.  These are by far the most popular queen I sell.

Queen bees – Mated or Virgin?

Also for sale are virgin queens and these are becoming more popular throughout the season.  They are cheaper to purchase but they are not without risk.  They travel well as do all my queens.  However, they can be more temperamental to introduce, they still have to mate and therefore you can not guarantee what drones they have mated with.  They will have a definable “time frame” from being caged to hive introduction, acceptance and subsequent mating.  If all goes well your new virgin queen will follow the normal script, turn into a magnificent layer and there is never a problem. But acquisition of these virgins later in the season can prove difficult, as I have to ensure there are sufficient for replacements of my own stock.  Mated queens are generally less trouble. All mated queens will be marked from that season and these will be accompanied by attendants when dispatched in my travelling cage. Virgin queens will not be marked unless requested.

Queens can be collected or will be posted via Royal Mail guaranteed next day delivery.